Transcript The Charter: Selling Your Project - Alex S. Brown, PMP IPMA-C

The Charter: Selling Your Project
Alex S. Brown, PMP
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group, USA
Session TLM02
Question for the Audience
• How many of you are PMPs?
• How many of you know what a
charter is?
• How many of you use a charter
for all projects?
Questions from Rita Mulcahy’s Sept
23, 2003 presentation, “What
Does a PM Really Need to
Know?”
What Happens Without a Charter?
Topics for This Session
•
•
•
•
Identify your charter
Charters and organizational strategy
Negotiate using your charter
Processes, policies, and procedures for
charters
What is a project charter?
•
•
•
•
Document issued by sponsor
Authorizes existence of the project
Provides project manager with authority
Provides authority to apply resources to
activities
• Should provide ROI and other detail
Definition from PMBOK Guide 3rd Edition
Are They Charters?
•
•
•
•
“Go Do It” e-mails or memos
Standard, formal project-profile form
Resolution at a committee meeting
Hallway conversations about the
project
• A collection of documents with a
signed cover-letter from sponsor
Authority, Authority, Authority
• “Three A’s” of charters
are required
• ROI and other details
optional
• Documentation
optional (?)
• Charter can be VERY
short
Changing Charters
• New charter for each phase
• Build on old charter or replace it
• Early charters are short and highlevel
• Later charters might be full
project plans, with a sign-off
• PM may have authority to issue
charters to sub-teams and phases
But My Sponsor Won’t Write a
Charter…
• Sponsor “issues” charter, but
might not write charter
• Project manager can write it
• Ensure sponsor buy-in before
authoring
• So long as the sponsor sincerely
authorizes project and project
manager, there is no harm
The Charter and Organizational
Strategy
Charters Tie Projects to Strategy
• Strategy seems lofty and out of reach for
many project managers
• Whether to start a project or not is the most
strategic decision in the project lifecycle
• Project managers’ best opportunity to
engage in strategic choices is when writing
the charter
Tips to Tie Charter to Strategy
• Keep charter short and results-oriented
• Relate project to specific organizational
goals
• Specify methodologies and implementation
in the plan, not the charter
• Read and reread organization mission
statements, and match them to your charters
The Moment of Opportunity
• Project manager can insist on
charter at the moment of
assignment
• Don’t wait
• Don’t give up the chance to
say “No”
• Start your project as a
professional, with a charter
Why Charters Appeal to Strategists
• Clear, simple statements of purpose
• First drafted before a penny has been
spent
• Earliest opportunity to accelerate or
halt the effort
• Breakthrough strategies often require
projects for execution
Negotiating Using a Charter
How Do Project Managers Get
Resources?
•
•
•
•
•
Persuasion
Boss
Own staff and budget
Sponsor
The Charter
The Charter Answers Key Questions
•
•
•
•
Who gave you the authority?
How much authority did you get?
Why is this so important?
Any negotiator, naysayer, or
skeptic will ask these questions
Negotiate Using the Charter
• Write the charter to be action-oriented and
specific
• Use the document as proof of authority
• “See, the sponsor wants it done”
• For the tough negotiations, get as far as
possible using persuasion and the charter,
then pull in the sponsor
Processes, Policies, and
Procedures for Charters
Charters Demonstrate Organizational
Maturity
• Document decisions to authorize projects
• Clear starting point for planning processes
• Tie projects to organizational strategy and
plans
• Control authorization of projects and
allocation of resources to them
Sample Charter Process
• Idea
• Opportunity Document
• Chief Officer and other
approvals
• Present to executive committee
• Approved opportunities are
projects
Benefits of a Formal Process
• Executives decide early
• Start-up of new projects is
controlled
• Authority is clear and welldocumented
• Audit, financial, and governance
controls are satisfied
• Portfolio of projects balanced and
prioritized
Areas for Further Study
• Program and Portfolio Management –
beyond “project selection” to “project startup”
• Teaching charters beyond “PM 101” level
• What makes a GREAT charter?
• Use charters to study ROI, organizational
maturity, and strategic alignment
Final Questions for the Audience
• How many of you know what a
charter is?
• How many of you now
recognize that you already have
a charter for your projects?
• How many of you are going to
improve your project charters
when you get back to the office?
Contact Information
Session TLM02
Alex S. Brown, PMP
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group,
USA
[email protected]
http://www.alexsbrown.com